Lilly

Most of you know about Lilly and many of you met her either last summer or the summer before. Lilly is our "adopted Bulgarian granddaughter" who was with us for the last two summers. She is the daughter of a Bulgarian pastor here in Plovdiv so when we come to Plovdiv, we get to see Lilly. This time, we were able to have dinner with her parents and also have lunch and then another visit for dessert with Lilly. She is back in school and doing really well. She also has a job working as a stock person for a store called Jumbo. It is a Greek owned company that has large (very, very large) stores that cater primarily to children (toys, clothes and everything else) but I must say after visiting one, they have a huge variety of merchandise for just about everyone! Between school, her job and her involvement in the church, Lilly is a very busy girl these days. In addition to all of that, she recently moved out of her parent's house and moved in with her best friend. So now she is living on her own, a goal that she has had for a long time. We are so happy to see the progress in her life and to see how well she is doing! Here are some pictures of her and her place where we had lunch.

Plovdiv

Aside from visiting the kids in the nearby village, the main event in Plovdiv was the women's conference that Pat spoke at. This was the 8th year they have done this here in Plovdiv and it has become quite an event! This year, as in the past, about 15 different churches of all denominations were represented and there were groups from quite a distance away. All together, there were about 150 women. I think the longevity of this event and the fact that each year it gets a little bigger and more diverse is a testimony to the need for women to come together to talk about women's issues. It is also a testimony to Pat's teaching ability and I am very proud of her for that! Here are some pictures of the event.

Perushtrtsa

Yesterday, we went out to the village to visit, "our kids". These are the children of The Gypsy Project. We spent about three hours visiting with them, their tutors and their pastor. It was a great day! It is hard for me to describe what has happened to these children in the last five months. It is astounding! The Gypsy Project is succeeding far beyond our wildest hopes! Of course, when God puts something together and people simply facilitate what He wants to do, that is the result! We began the program with 18 kids. Only two have dropped out. We knew we would lose some but honestly we expected to lose more than two so this is a great rate of retention. All of the grades for the children are either up or level. This is very significant because this is the year that they transition from having just one teacher to many teachers as they will in the future. Normally, this is a hard year for kids (including kids at home) as they make that adjustment. But more importantly, they are loving school and loving learning! Their teachers are reporting a change in attitude. Furthermore, they are loving each other! When the program started, they were very much competitive individuals. Now, they are a team; they support each other and help each other. Not only that, but they are growing spiritually as well. Recently, they came up in front of the church and individually prayed for the whole church. Quite amazing for fifth graders! We sat and listened as they told us their dreams for their lives. A few months ago, they had no dreams and no faith in their future. Now they are dreaming of becoming lawyers, judges, doctors, pharmacists, teachers and musicians (and more that I don't recall). WE CANNOT THANK OUR WONDERFUL SUPPORTERS AND SUPPORTING CHURCHES ENOUGH. YOU ARE HELPING TO CHANGE LIVES! Here are pictures of the children of Perushtrtsa, along with one of their church and one of their village.

Burgas

Well it's nice to be back after almost 10 days of not posting the blog. I am sorry it has been so long but we had a big problem. Last week right after we arrived in Burgas, we went down. I went first, then Pat. We caught a very nasty upper respiratory illness and were pretty much out of commission. One night we couldn't teach at all. The other nights, one of us (usually Pat) was able to go. It was a tough time. We taught leadership for four evenings. We had a really good turnout and the people were just great! Our hosts worried over us like a mother hen; they couldn't do enough for us. This is when the body of Christ really shines; when someone is really in need they get the care. On Saturday, Pat did a ladies conference downstairs in the sanctuary and I did one for men in a big room on the third floor. Pat had about 180 ladies and I had about 70 men! We were really pleased by the turnout. On Sunday I preached in the church and then the Pastor drove us to Plovdiv. It was a very tough week but I believe God was glorified. The people were really interested in what we had to say so that was very gratifying to us. We are in Plovdiv now. We are still not completely well; lots of hacking and coughing; but we are at least getting better. God is faithful to see us through (with the help of antibiotics and other medications). Here are some random pictures

Time to Leave Sofia for Burgas

Yesterday, we spent our day with our friends at Blatavest (Good News) church. This is a great independent church that we have been coming to for quite a few years now and we have made many friends here. I was invited to preach the sermon so I spoke on valuing people. Apparently the Holy Spirit was with me because I had a lot of people, including the Pastor, give me a lot of atta-boys afterward. In the afternoon, we spent time with the family ministry. These are people who gather together once a month to study marriage God's way. We have met with them before and it was a lot of fun for us to renew our relationship with them. We have discussed a few new things with Blagavest and it seems that we will be coming back to serve them in the future with a couple of new seminars that they have requested. That's the way we work; when churches express a need we try to meet it. That is the mechanism by which God keeps opening new doors and keeps us busy. So now we have two churches here in Sofia that we will be working with in the future. We can't wait!!! Here is a picture of the family ministry group.

Almost Finished in Sofia

Last night we finished teaching at First Pentecostal Church. We really had a great time with them; they were such a good group. We feel like we made a lot of new friends and we will be coming back! It was a terrific start to the trip. Here is a picture of the group.

More From Sofia

Last night we had another night with the folks from First Pentecostal Church. This is a great group. They have a lot of potential. It was interesting to "preach" a lesson for the whole church. Thursday is a normal church night so the pastor asked me to give a lesson that was appropriate for the whole church and "preach" it instead of "teach it". That was a first! After the service, we went to the basement and continued with our small group. Pat gave them the spiritual gift test and they were enthralled. It was a really good evening. We have one more night with them tonight but we will certainly be back! Here are a few pictures.

Also, last Tuesday night we had dinner with Dinko and Petia Zlatarov. They are not only our partners but dear friends. When we met, their sons were just little boys. Now one of them is about 6 ft 5 and 250 lbs. Not a little boy anymore!!!! Here they area: